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First time editing, looking for advice

Hi guys and gals,

I just finished shooting my first short film and am about to begin the editing process. I'm looking for any tips, advice, links, resources that some of you may have.

It's a narrative short, and I estimate the finished film will be around 4-5 minutes. I'm cutting it on final cut pro x.

Much appreciated!
 
Keep your clips organized on the external drive & in your FCP library.
The faster & easier you can find something, the better.
If you don't know how to do something, you can find answers pretty quick by searching online.
 
When you think you’re done with the rough cut, walk away. Come back in no less than 36 hours. Staring at the computer for hours on end can cloud judgment simply though exhaustion, and you won’t know that you (or your eyes or ears) are tired. When you come back, you’ll have a refreshed perspective and you’ll notice things that you’d managed to miss the first time.

When you think you’re done with the fine cut, repeat the process above.
 
When you think you’re done with the rough cut, walk away. Come back in no less than 36 hours. Staring at the computer for hours on end can cloud judgment simply though exhaustion, and you won’t know that you (or your eyes or ears) are tired. When you come back, you’ll have a refreshed perspective and you’ll notice things that you’d managed to miss the first time.

When you think you’re done with the fine cut, repeat the process above.

Nice one!
 
Remember your brain is a muscle thus it gets tired. So after putting in some time in your editing, you should stop and get some rest. When you wake up fresh and go back at it, you will be amazed at what you will think of. It happens to me all the time. Sleep on your work.
 
And for editing process , make it as short as possible. I kniw it's a terrible advice but trust me you wont get the heart to cut the scenes you just worked on. It'll be double the runtime you anticipated $_$
 
And for editing process , make it as short as possible. I kniw it's a terrible advice but trust me you wont get the heart to cut the scenes you just worked on. It'll be double the runtime you anticipated $_$

Not terrible advice at all. We call that “killing your baby”. You gotta be willing to pare down the scene and often against your first impression.

This is especially important if you’re editing footage that you shot. It’s really easy to fall in love with your own material. You get caught up in something that, on its own, may be visually appealing, but the determination of including that in your film may not be the best decision.

I usually ask myself of any shot, “Does it strengthen the story, weaken the stroy, or make no difference?” If it strengthens the story then it stays. If it weakens the story then it goes. If it makes no difference, I’ll park it on a scratch sequence and save it in case I need it to smooth a funky edit later.

This is also another reason for my previous statement that you need to walk away for a while and come back rested.
 
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